


all the good things to come

by weneedtotalkaboutsherlock (Paradoxe1914)



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Parentlock, Sherlock is learning how to be a dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 16:06:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11256366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradoxe1914/pseuds/weneedtotalkaboutsherlock
Summary: “Truth is, Rosie, I’m not really good at this kind of stuff.”She seemed to relax a little bit in his arms, and not knowing what to do next, he decided to sit down on the floor. Leaning against the crib, Sherlock put her on his lap for her to see the full-blown starry night illuminating the room.





	all the good things to come

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet is loosely based on the scene in Doctor Who's episode Closing Time, where the Doctor calms down a crying Alfie (you don't need to have seen the episode to read this!). 
> 
> Sorry about any mistakes still in there, English is not my first language.

Sherlock entered the nursery and swiftly closed the door behind him. For a moment he stood there, unsure. It was like he had suddenly entered another dimension or had been propelled into the night sky: although the room was dark, the ceiling was illuminated by hundreds of stars. It took him a moment to realize that the source of the soft light was coming from a rotating lamp in the corner of the room: one John had bought still at a time he still thought it would serve at his old flat. 

Sherlock stepped further into the room, his eyes meeting the crib from where the baby had started wailing about a minute ago. 

“Now now,” he begged, approaching the crib with his natural uneasiness towards babies, “there’s no logical reason for you to cry, Watson, you’ve been fed two hours ago, you still got two more to go before your next meal.” 

The argument was apparently not convincing enough to stop Rosie from crying some more. Alarmed, Sherlock tried to shush her again, slightly leaning over the crib. “We don’t want to wake up John, alright? Look, Watson, this is the exact replica of the solar system!” 

He pointed at the mobile hanging over his head, with all nine planets orbiting slowly around the sun. The irony had not been lost on him, although he was glad John had gotten a scientific-proof replica (as good as he could tell, of course) and not some easy childlike version of it. 

“Yes, the solar system is very important. To your dad, that is. I still don’t get why, but it really is. You’ll probably learn about it all someday, and I advise you to not delete that information or he’ll be mad. You won’t have to, Watson, you’ll be so clever you’ll have enough space for all that knowledge.” His rambling had apparently gotten Rosie to calm down a little bit, as her wails had broken into quiet sobs, her eyes still wet from tears. 

“I’ve even had to learn it all again for him. See? That’s the sun. It’s big and in the middle. Every other planet in the system is orbiting around it, because of… gravity? Something like that.” Sherlock pointed to the yellow ball in the center, before moving his finger to the third planet. “That’s Earth, I know because of the inaccurate blue and green mapping of it. All the other planets are named after Roman gods. ‘Don’t know why, don’t ask. This is Mercury. After Freddie Mercury, the God of Music, your father says. Then we have… Venus? There’s Earth, and Mars, that one I remember because of the dull movie we watched the other day, the one where this guy gets stuck on it. It’s all red. And boring. Anyway, the big ones are Saturn and Jupiter. Or is it the other way around? I can’t tell for the life of me. Then it gets totally out of control. Uranus… and N… Neptone? Neptwice? Ah, they’ve included Pluto. Good. See, it’s the last one and it’s very small, and apparently it’s not a planet anymore but it’s stupid to deny that only because it’s small. It’s just like you.”

Sherlock got closer, a little bit amazed by the baby who was now babbling without making any sense. “Oh, you’re really really tiny. No, no, don’t cry. Please?” 

Rosie was wailing again, and Sherlock wondered how could such a tiny baby make a sound this deafening. With a sigh, he slowly took her in his arms, as carefully as if she had been some important piece of evidence or a frail cup of porcelain. It was the first time he had picked her up on his own – usually John was there to give her to him, and Sherlock felt safer when he was there to supervise any mistake he would make. But at this hour of the night John was fast asleep downstairs so he was truly on his own, only armed with a dreadful sense of incapability. 

“Truth is, Rosie, I’m not really good at this kind of stuff.” 

She seemed to relax a little bit in his arms, and not knowing what to do next, he decided to sit down on the floor. Leaning against the crib, Sherlock put her on his lap for her to see the full-blown starry night illuminating the room.

“I never thought I would live with a baby. You see, I was the youngest in my family, so I did not have any siblings to take care of. It was not a very happy childhood in any way, though Mum and Dad were nice, I just remember that they would not allow any baby talk at home since they believed it would slow down cognitive development. I have no idea if that’s true. I really don’t know why I’m telling you this, Rosie, since you obviously can’t understand me, and you won’t remember any of it.”

Wasn’t it strange, how the first years of life happened to everybody else but you? Yet Sherlock could not quite believe, at that moment, that he held a precious life in his hands. How this pink vaguely human-like baby would grow to become a fully functioning person? And what was his role, in all of this? Sherlock had never thought about working on parenting skills, or at least learning about them, and establishing for himself how a child should be raised. All of it had been a sudden surprise and had left him utterly unprepared for a world he did not know anything about.

“To be honest, Rosie, I find it utterly frightening. And I’ve been in loads of scary situations, but not quite as scary as this one. That stays between us, okay? Your father would probably find it silly if you’d ever tell him.” 

Sherlock was unsure about why he was telling her this. Maybe it was because the late hours of the night had tired him enough to reveal himself, or maybe because those were sentences he always had wanted to say and he believed that the small toddler would somehow understand. She was impossibly clever, that he already knew. Of course, since she had John as a father. 

“I just don’t want to mess up. He would understand though, he understands a lot of things I don’t. The solar system being one of them. I’m glad we have him, Rosie, he makes everything a lot less frightening. He always has. And you know when I told you I never thought I would like with a baby? Well I never thought I’d be with him either, so I guess that life’s full of surprises. You’ll see. You have everything ahead of you.”

Sherlock smiled to her, but she was gazing away at the stars on the ceiling, trying to catch them with her tiny fists. 

“Soon enough you’ll be off to school, where you’ll learn about futile things your Dad will want you to remember. And you will, because you’re so much brighter than we both could ever be. If you’re ever bored with school, I’ll show you how to deduce people, and I’ll teach you a thing or two about chemistry. I’m sure Dad will show you how to do stitches, that’s always good to know. And you’ll grow up, maybe you’ll become a doctor, just like him, or maybe a chemist, or a detective. For all we know you’ll make your own path and become an astronaut. Whatever you choose, whatever you want to do. And you’ll grow up to be kind and brave and good to other people because you have it from your father.” 

He huffed a laugh. “I don’t really think I’m a good dad because I still don’t know how to change a nappy or how to feed you, but I guess that you’re never too old to learn. And I really want to, even if you might not remember any of this, but I don’t want you to grow up like we did. I want you to feel safe, happy and loved, because you won’t have it easy, Rosie. Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad people out there and I’m afraid we can’t catch them all before you make your way into the world. It won’t be easy because you’ll have everything – kindness, cleverness, and two men as parents, in short three things the world still has trouble to understand. So save your tears for later, little one.”

He unexpectedly landed a kiss on her round bare head, before squeezing her a little bit closer to his chest. She was already fully asleep against him, breathing slowly. For a moment, he wondered if her dreams were full of dancing stars and dark blue skies, and he felt as if they were the only ones in the world, linked by a strangely strong bond he did not know existed before that moment.  
Softly, Sherlock stood up and put her back in her crib. With his finger he turned the planets of the mobile around the sun: a moment later he was closing the door behind him and going down the stairs. With a smile curling on his lips, he was already calculating how much time would pass before she would wake up and he would have the chance to go back upstairs to see her again. 

 

When Sherlock entered the bedroom, John had already put the baby monitor back in its place, and with a smile on his face pretended to be fast asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> I am weneedtotalkaboutsherlock on tumblr.


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